Stroke care challenges and opportunities in Spain. Persei vivarium´s commitment

by Rosa Siles | Oct 29, 2018

Stroke is a leading cause of death around the globe. In today’s world, one in six people worldwide will have a stroke in their lifetime. Stroke is the second highest cause of death in the world (first in women, in addition to the first cause of disability in adults and the second cause of dementia.). It is a cerebrovascular disease that constitutes one of the main socio-health problems in Spain principally due to rising life expectancy. Each year 110.000-120.000 Spaniards suffer a stroke and approximately one third remain with consequences. Annual health expenditure on stroke is approximately 1.250 million euros in our country, without counting the significant personal and family impact.

The Cerebrovascular Disease Study Group (GEECV) of the Spanish Society of Neurology (SEN) and Ponle freno al ICTUS (Stop Ictus Association) organized the seminar “Current situation of stroke care in Spain: from the National Strategy to the Regional Plans “ on the occasion of the World Stroke Day 2018.

The event´s goal was to analyze how the different Regional Stroke Care Plans have been implemented in the 17 regional governments, to identify strengths or regional inequalities in the care of this disease among the Spanish population. Persei vivarium’s team had the great opportunity to attend and share the day with the main collaborating health agents.

The conference´s key takeaways

The conference was opened by Pilar Aparicio, Director General of Public Health, Quality and Innovation of the Ministry of Health, Consumption and Social Welfare and closed by Enrique Ruiz Escudero, Health Councilor of the Community of Madrid. With the participation of Prof. Exuperio Díez Tejedor, President of the SEN (Spanish Society of Neurology), Dr. María Alonso de Leciñana, Coordinator of the GEECV of the SEN (Spanish Society of Neurology), Julio Agredano, President of Ponle freno al ICTUS (Stop Ictus Association), as well as several representatives of the regional stroke plans and patient associations.

“Stroke is a complex disease that requires immediate attention and specialized assistance. The intervention of neurologists with experience in cerebrovascular diseases improves the evolution of patients with stroke and reduces mortality, consequences, disabilities and related costs” said Prof. Exuperio Díez Tejedor, President of the Spanish Society of Neurology. “In addition to the obvious benefit of early and specialized neurological care for patients who have suffered a stroke, the advantages of organizing medical and nursing care in a stroke unit (IU) has also been clearly demonstrated.”

“One of the keys to success is the speedy early detection and the emergency system. For this reason, the interconnection and precise coordination between extra and intrahospital emergency services is key. Also the “Stroke Code initiative”, designed for the rapid identification, notification and transfer of patients, is fundamental to the care attention chain for this pathology emergency services” said Dr. María Alonso de Leciñana, Coordinator of the Study Group of Cerebrovascular Diseases of the Spanish Society of Neurology. “Also the introduction of new therapeutic techniques has forced the updating of the previous organizational models with the aim that their availability covers the entire national territory, ensuring equity in the access of patients to these treatments”.

“However, there is still much to do in terms of analysing these achievements and the new needs”, this conference helped us to continue improving the care of these patients to reduce the impact of the disease. The joint work between professionals and those responsible for the Health Services of the regional governments is the key to success”.

María Alonso de Leciñana finished her speech by announcing the creation of a national Ictus registry developed by the GEECV of the SEN (Spanish Society of Neurology).

Persei vivarium is committed to working on those challenges by providing the technology and know-how needed for curated clinical information from Ictus real world data.

#WorldStrokeDay #RealWorldData #bevivarium